12 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Quotables

2015-01-26

By: Classical Staff

January 27th marks Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s 259th birthday, offering a perfect excuse for us to pull out some of our favourite quotes from Wolfie himself and a few well-deserved words from his multitude of admirers.

“Melody is the essence of music. I compare a good melodist to a fine racer, and counterpoints to hack post-horses.” – Mozart

“You know that I become quite powerless whenever I am obliged to write for an instrument which I cannot bear.” – Mozart

“To talk well and eloquently is a very great art, but that an equally great one is to know the right moment to stop.” – Mozart

“Mozart is the musical Christ.” – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

“Mozart tapped the source from which all music flows, expressing himself with a spontaneity and refinement and breathtaking rightness.” – Aaron Copland

“If Mozart were around now he would write a killer rock song.” – Vanessa Carlton

“Mozart is the greatest composer of all. Beethoven created his music, but the music of Mozart is of such purity and beauty that one feels he merely found it — that it has always existed as part of the inner beauty of the universe waiting to be revealed.” – Albert Einstein

“Mozart is happiness before it has gotten defined.” – Arthur Miller

“Mozart is sweet sunshine.” – Antonin Dvorak

“To me, Mozart is our Shakespeare, the one who wrote the most dramatic, psychologically most baffling music. He combined ideas that no one else would have thought of putting together.” – Lukas Foss

“Beethoven I take twice a week, Haydn four times, and Mozart every day!” – Gioachino Rossini

“We all drew on the comfort which is given out by the major works of Mozart, which is as real and material as the warmth given up by a glass of brandy.” – Rebecca West